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Federal budget cuts hit University ecology lab, cause controversy
BRIAN MINK
Issue date: 10/5/07 Section: News
U.S. Department of Energy funding cuts at the University's Savannah River Ecology Laboratory have prompted letters of support for the laboratory from high-ranking officials and sparked a congressional investigation.
But a top University official said the impact of the investigation and ongoing restructuring of the lab has been overstated.
David Lee, vice president for research, said lab officials were aware for the last several years that month-by-month funding from DOE soon would be eliminated. The natural ebb and flow of federal government priorities, rather than political vendettas, has driven budget cuts, he said.
"The notion that the federal government gives out funding to sustain laboratories for a period of time is frankly an outdated model that doesn't match the reality of today's world," Lee said. "There really are no big surprises here."
The lab's financial crisis sparked this summer when DOE decided to decrease the lab's funding by about $4 million and forced the layoff of about 40 employees, including Carl Strojan who was making about $112,000 annually as the lab's associate director.
More layoffs are expected in the near future resulting in researchers moving their research to the University's main campus.
At the urging of Georgia and South Carolina congressional delegations, particularly Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.), the congressional investigation into the lab began in July with hearings before the Committee on Science and Technology. The hearings, held July 17 and Aug. 1, featured testimony from officials of DOE, SREL, the Savannah River Site and the scientific community.
SREL is a research facility with close ties to the Savannah River Site, a DOE-managed nuclear processing facility near Aiken, S.C., built during the Cold War. DOE and University officials who deny ulterior motives behind the funding cuts say media reports have overstated SREL's role as a watchdog of SRS.
"I don't think the researchers that work at SREL saw their primary role as watchdogs," Lee said.
But a top University official said the impact of the investigation and ongoing restructuring of the lab has been overstated.
David Lee, vice president for research, said lab officials were aware for the last several years that month-by-month funding from DOE soon would be eliminated. The natural ebb and flow of federal government priorities, rather than political vendettas, has driven budget cuts, he said.
"The notion that the federal government gives out funding to sustain laboratories for a period of time is frankly an outdated model that doesn't match the reality of today's world," Lee said. "There really are no big surprises here."
The lab's financial crisis sparked this summer when DOE decided to decrease the lab's funding by about $4 million and forced the layoff of about 40 employees, including Carl Strojan who was making about $112,000 annually as the lab's associate director.
More layoffs are expected in the near future resulting in researchers moving their research to the University's main campus.
At the urging of Georgia and South Carolina congressional delegations, particularly Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.), the congressional investigation into the lab began in July with hearings before the Committee on Science and Technology. The hearings, held July 17 and Aug. 1, featured testimony from officials of DOE, SREL, the Savannah River Site and the scientific community.
SREL is a research facility with close ties to the Savannah River Site, a DOE-managed nuclear processing facility near Aiken, S.C., built during the Cold War. DOE and University officials who deny ulterior motives behind the funding cuts say media reports have overstated SREL's role as a watchdog of SRS.
"I don't think the researchers that work at SREL saw their primary role as watchdogs," Lee said.
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Taras Oleksyk
posted 10/05/07 @ 12:30 PM EST
The University is eating from the hand of its corporate sponsors, and thus is defending their destructive position on the lab. For years SREL was the pride of the University, and these "top officials" with their mercantile interests are betraying the long tradition of science and education on the environment at the University. (Continued…)
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